All Rise...

The Charge

The Case

Rob Thomas has had a strange career. He fronted the almost-one-hit-wonders
Matchbox Twenty, which yielded one of the go-to songs of the late-'90s
("3AM"), but waited four years to follow up that record. In the
meantime he had a mega-hit with a Carlos Santana collaboration
("Smooth"). Despite the lack of his usual band on that track, he
didn't release a solo album for another six years. That album, Something to
Be, yielded a tour that is documented on this DVD, Rob Thomas: Live at
Red Rocks.

Matchbox Twenty was an interesting band in the '90s because they were
pitched almost perfectly between the crunch of high-grunge acts (like Pearl Jam
or Soundgarden) and the more classicist bands (like The Wallflowers). Rob Thomas
made an interesting front man because he could be earnest almost to the point of
parody without ever quite tipping over. When he broke out to do
"Smooth" with Santana he showed that his style had the potential to
break out of the grungy rut and outlast some of his contemporaries (like Tonic,
who had a hit around the same time as "3 AM"). Although he continued
to make music with Matchbox Twenty in the '00s, Rob Thomas finally broke away in
2005 with a solo album, from which much of this disc is taken.

The solo turn allows Thomas to embrace his earnest side with a collection of
songs with huge choruses and his usual sincerity. However, because he's not
working with a cemented band, Thomas is free to gather a group of musicians to
cater to his musical vision. This is both a blessing and a curse as demonstrated
by this DVD. On the one hand Thomas surrounds himself with very capable
musicians able to effortlessly create a musical backdrop for Thomas' musings. On
the other hand, because of the number of musicians involved the efforts can
sound a bit faceless, like the musicians are just playing the songs instead of
playing with each other. Their front man seems to be having an off night as
well. Song after song Thomas brings intensity, but there's very little release.
Eventually the intensity gets to be frustrating, as the music builds but never
quite goes anywhere.

The concert isn't a total loss, however. The show is shot well and does a
good job showing off the gorgeous Red Rocks Amphitheater. The audience seems to
be enjoying the show as well, and their energy helps the show. It also helps
that while Rob Thomas often looks overly-serious, his fellow musicians seem to
be having a load of fun, often breaking out into smiles as they play.

On the technical front, Rob Thomas: Live at Red Rocks is good but not
great. The video isn't as sharp as I would have expected from a show of such
recent vintage (and supposedly captured in hi-def). The level of detail is a
little disappointing, and although there don't seem to be any compression
problems to speak of. The audio fares quite a bit better, with good separation
between the instruments and an impressive low end. The concert is also mixed
well, with good use of crowd noise and effective dynamics. The lone extra is a
video for Thomas' song "Streetcorner Symphony." A little behind the
scenes footage would have been nice, but a bonus video isn't too bad.

I'm not the world's biggest Rob Thomas fan, but this concert DVD is sure to
please fans, even if it's not likely to win him any new ones. A no-frills
audiovisual presentation married to a career-spanning set of songs makes this
easy to recommend to the faithful.